Bill Thomas stuff
 

Since acquiring the Bill Thomas Nova, I have started collecting BT related items. Just got this catlog in the mail today. Dated 1967 1/2, I am guessing a very early one for both Nickey and Bill Thomas.

https://www.yenko.net/attachments/250412-BTN-1.JPG

Re: Bill Thomas stuff
 

The Bill Thomas shop in CA. Notice the signs, Nickey on one side, BT on the other.

https://www.yenko.net/attachments/250415-btn-2.JPG

Re: Bill Thomas stuff
 

The 1967 Nickey/Bill Thomas Camaro.

https://www.yenko.net/attachments/250417-btn-3.JPG

They would pay your airfare to pick up a Nickey Camaro at either location, Chicago or Anaheim.

https://www.yenko.net/attachments/250417-btn-4.JPG

Re: Bill Thomas stuff
 

The back cover. A Nickey sponsored "rail", and the fabled Bill Thomas Cheetah.

https://www.yenko.net/attachments/250421-btn-5.JPG

Re: Bill Thomas stuff
 

By 1969, Bill Thomas was on his own.

https://www.yenko.net/attachments/250422-btn-6.JPG

Re: Bill Thomas stuff
 

You say you can not get a Chevy engine to fit in your car, even a Mustang, no problem.

https://www.yenko.net/attachments/250427-btn-7.JPG

Re: Bill Thomas stuff
 

When it came to the Chevrolet Big Block engine, seems Bill Thomas "wrote the book" on how to get the most out of your BBC.

https://www.yenko.net/attachments/250430-btn-8.JPG

Re: Bill Thomas stuff
 

427 supplement. Notice where this came from.

https://www.yenko.net/attachments/250433-btn-9.JPG

Re: Bill Thomas stuff
 

Very cool

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Tom, I have the very same two books, you have from Bill Thomas. Thats great!!BBBenny https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...ins/3gears.gif

Re: Bill Thomas stuff
 

VERY Chttps://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...emlins/eek.gifhttps://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...emlins/eek.gifL...great stuff!.
https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...ins/3gears.gif
~ Pete

Re: Bill Thomas stuff
 

[ QUOTE ]
Tom, I have the very same two books, you have from Bill Thomas. Thats great!!BBBenny https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...ins/3gears.gif

[/ QUOTE ]Very nice catalogs! Worth having. https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...iggthumpup.gif

Re: Bill Thomas stuff
 

Sammy, U can;t beat day TWO catalogs. From B/T!!!!!!BBBenny https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...emlins/eek.gif

Re: Bill Thomas stuff
 

Whats does that 427 supplement book contain? There was one on eBay a few weeks ago..
Steve

Re: Bill Thomas stuff
 

Only a few pages, outlining the differences between the 396 (which was covered in the first book) and the 427, part numbers, etc.

Re: Bill Thomas stuff
 

First time I had seen the '69 catalog. Attached is the 1970 1/2 Bill Thomas catalog. As you can see, he went bankrupt 9/1/71.

-Jon

Re: Bill Thomas stuff
 

Neat stuff, Tom https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...iggthumpup.gif Any idea if Bill Thomas had a relationship with any Anaheim-area Chevy dealers? One of my cars was sold new at Vern Trider Chevrolet, a little over a mile from Thomas' shop.

Re: Bill Thomas stuff
 

Great reads Tom---Used that 396 performance handbook as one of my bibles back then---------------looks like you picked up one like new.......

Re: Bill Thomas stuff
 

Hi Rainer....Just curious about Vern Trider that you mentioned. Where were they located in Anaheim? Did Anaheim have a couple dealerships? The research I have done has a Cone Bros Chevrolet on Euclid Ave near downtown Anaheim a few miles from the Thomas location. The dealership changed their name to Woody in the 80s and then became Anaheim Chevrolet in the 90s. I have found that Thomas did have some ties to Cone Chevrolet in Fullerton around 6 miles from the Thomas shop. I to would like to hear about Bill Thomas and his ties to any Chevrolet dealerships from people that lived in that area but have not really seen any responses from Californians on this subject. Seems like they do not share the same historical enthusiasium of the rest of the country. I purchased the BT 396 booklet and 427 suppliment NOS on ebay a few years ago as the guy had several of them. First time I have seen the 1970 booklet. Cool!!!

Re: Bill Thomas stuff
 

If I'm not mistaken...Vern Trider was at the corner of Euclid and Lincoln in Anaheim. It eventually became Woody Chevrolet...and now it's something else...

If there was a Cone Bros. In Anaheim (Sounds familiar)...I would suspect that it was on Anaheim Blvd near downtown..I think that Hardin Olds (where I worked) eventually took over their lot...before Hardin moved down the street...


Cone Chevrolet in Fullerton did have quite a few high performance cars... https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...ns/burnout.gif

Re: Bill Thomas stuff
 

Looks like Fullerton on this racer.

https://www.yenko.net/attachments/241720-File0014.jpg

Re: Bill Thomas stuff
 

Ronnie Kaplan the Crew Chief for Nickey's road race operations which started in 57/58 had told me that Bill's shop was initially in Fullerton prior to Anaheim.

Kaplan,Thomas and Yunick all knew each other and were key players, as GMs back door engineering dept. These guys had direct access to GM facilites and parts.

Ronnie would personally inspect mass produced parts on the assembly line and hand pick the ones he was going to use on his cars.

Any dealer who worked with Hi-Performance Cars and parts in the area would have known of Bill Thomas. Especially if it had to do with Drag Racing.

Re: Bill Thomas stuff
 

Hi Bruce.......I dug up an old Post card for Cone Bros and found the they were on 215 N Los Angeles St. which I believe later on changed the name to Anaheim Blvd. I may have the 2 addresses mixed up. I was thinking they may have moved to Euclid from some info I got from a Anaheim resident years ago but they could have been mistakin also. My memory does not work as good as it used to. I wish I would have written down some of my research findings. Cool ad Tom I have that original Hurst ad from the day. Here is a pic of Mr Cone (Bill Thomas affiliation) who also was a President of Orange County Int. Raceway.

Re: Bill Thomas stuff
 

Bruce..... Here is a pic of a Cone Bros License plate frame from Anaheim.

Re: Bill Thomas stuff
 

Kim - Thanks for the info and resurrecting this post. Interesting that you have info showing Cone Bros at that address. Any idea what year that would have been? I have a 70 Chevelle built June of 1970, and the dealer it was shipped to according to the build sheet was Vern Trider. The Vern Trider address on the sheet is the same as what you listed for Cone Bros - 215 N. Anaheim Blvd.

A while back on Team Chevelle I asked for any info on Vern Trider. One member in Garden Grove thought that the current Anaheim Chevy, located on 215 S. Euclid St., was previously Woody Chevy and then Vern Trider prior to that. However, when I contacted someone at Anaheim Chevy, they said that the dealership used to be called Southland Chevy.

We need some long-time So Cal locals to help us sort this out https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...lins/dunno.gif

Re: Bill Thomas stuff
 

[ QUOTE ]
A while back on Team Chevelle I asked for any info on Vern Trider. One member in Garden Grove thought that the current Anaheim Chevy, located on 215 S. Euclid St., was previously Woody Chevy and then Vern Trider prior to that. However, when I contacted someone at Anaheim Chevy, they said that the dealership used to be called Southland Chevy.

[/ QUOTE ]

[ QUOTE ]
We need some long-time So Cal locals to help us sort this out

[/ QUOTE ]

Let's see if I can help you out...
It was all of those above at the 215 S. Euclid location

I think Cone Bros was on Anaheim Blvd...near old downtown Anaheim...there was a sucession of dealerships that used that address...Cone Bros, Hardin Olds before they moved elsewhere. That location was a few used car lots while I was in high school...and the eventually became BB&H Auto parts (they had a full service engine shop) That's where I had my Novas big block hot tanked, bored, etc....

I lived in Anaheim from 1973-2002...and a few times before that. I lived about 1 1/2 miles from Vern Trider/Southland/Woody/Anaheim Chevrolet. There's a great mexican food restaurant about a block away called MexiCasa....

I worked at Hardin Olds on Anaheim Blvd...after they moved to their more recent location.

My best friends mom still lives in her house less than two blocks from the 215 S. Euclid location... https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...lins/beers.gif

Re: Bill Thomas stuff
 

Here's the location...actually the red roofed building inside near the top of the white marked square is an Arby's...so that's technically not part of the dealership...LOL

Neither is the field to the left of the Arby's... https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...ins/tongue.gif

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b1...rinanaheim.jpg

Re: Bill Thomas stuff
 

One long-time So Cal local to the rescue - thanks Bruce! https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...ns/worship.gif

Here's a license plate frame that will adorn my Trider-sold car once its restored

http://www.shapeconsulting.com/cars/triderframe2.jpg

Re: Bill Thomas stuff
 

Oh, and by the way

Cone Chevrolet Fullerton's slogan was:

[ QUOTE ]
Your car has a home when you buy from Cone.

[/ QUOTE ]

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b1...coneframes.jpg

http://i19.photobucket.com/albums/b1...echevrolet.jpg

Re: Bill Thomas stuff
 

Rainer...Cool...I remember those by the hundreds...those and Eddie Hopper Garden Grove...Cone Chevrolet in Fullerton, Etc! https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...lins/beers.gif

Next time I go out to visit...I'll see what I can find...

Re: Bill Thomas stuff
 

[ QUOTE ]
Hi Bruce.......I dug up an old Post card for Cone Bros and found the they were on 215 N Los Angeles St. which I believe later on changed the name to Anaheim Blvd

[/ QUOTE ]

You are correct...Los Angeles St became Anaheim Blvd later on...way later on.

Cone Bros was on Los Angeles street as early as 1927 https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...emlins/eek.gif

See here: http://content.cdlib.org/ark:/13030/kt3r29q07d/

And this pic taken in the flood of 1938 shows Cone Bros the 3rd building on the right (half circle shaped roof)

http://www.oac.cdlib.org/affiliates/...res/P12874.jpg

Re: Bill Thomas stuff
 

Bruce - one more question, though. There is currently still an Anaheim Blvd, and mapping the address I have puts Trider maybe 2 miles east of the Euclid site, on the other side of the freeway. Are you saying these dealers were all one and the same AND at the same location, or was the Anaheim Blvd address a location that the dealership occupied prior to moving to Euclid?

Re: Bill Thomas stuff
 

And finally:

[ QUOTE ]
Arriving in Fullerton just a year after McCoy & Mills Ford (in 1931) was Cone Chevrolet, now Mullahey Chevrolet. The Cone Brothers originally opened the dealership at Harbor and Santa Fe, now the site of the Old Spaghetti Factory. In 1964, Red Cone and his son, also "Red," moved the dealership to its current location at 600 W Commonwealth. In 1998, Fullerton native Tim Mullahey purchased the operation

[/ QUOTE ]

Re: Bill Thomas stuff
 

[ QUOTE ]
Bruce - one more question, though. There is currently still an Anaheim Blvd, and mapping the address I have puts Trider maybe 2 miles east of the Euclid site, on the other side of the freeway. Are you saying these dealers were all one and the same AND at the same location, or was the Anaheim Blvd address a location that the dealership occupied prior to moving to Euclid?

[/ QUOTE ]

More than likely occupied prior moving to Euclid. I will ask my *older* brother Gary...and get his take on this. A lot of dealerships got their "start" on Anaheim Blvd...but as the downtown became "run down" they moved farther away from Anaheim Blvd....make sense? https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...mlins/hmmm.gif

Re: Bill Thomas stuff
 

Got it - makes sense now. So it looks like Trider's location on Anaheim Blvd. was roughly a mile south of Thomas' shop on Julianna.

Re: Bill Thomas stuff
 

You got it...YEP! https://www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/imag...lins/beers.gif

Re: Bill Thomas stuff
 

Bruce.....Was Cone Bros in Anaheim and Cone of Fullerton related? Seeing that they were only 3 miles apart. I see that Bill Thomas's shop was right in the middle of the 2 Cone dealerships at 1.5 miles from each dealership. I contacted Anaheim Chevrolet in the mid 90s and they mentioned a Southland then Woody before their ownership. Also if you have any luck finding any Cone Chevrolet license plate frames please still keep me in mind. Also on a Bill Thomas note I did some research and found another tie. Their was a man named Mike Jones who worked for Bill Thomas in the 1967-68 era that became manager of O.C.I.R. in late 68. He was interviewed by Drag News in Jan. 69 when he was 32 years old. (The same track that Mr. Cone of Fullerton was a stockholder and past president) Mike would be about 71 years old now and I would guess Bill Thomas would be about 75 now. Just some more Bill Thomas trivia. Vern Trider seems to be in this mix also. Interesting

Re: Bill Thomas stuff
 

Here is a pic of the post dated 1961 Post Card from Cone Bros that included their used car lot. and a pic of a pic of a business card from Cone in Fullerton. Bruce were you cruising these streets at the height of muscle car era?

Re: Bill Thomas stuff
 

another pic

Re: Bill Thomas stuff
 

one more